This research helps to explain why people will pay for a premium membership so they can upload their best work to online repositories and forums (Flickr, for example). Why would people pay in order to give their stuff away to strangers for free? We establish our identity and reputation online to the extent that we contribute. We can’t be heard (or seen) unless we speak. We do this by uploading, commenting, and registering our presence through our interactions with others. This has important implications for how we approach education (offline as well as online).